Nobunari will make some minor mistakes, but still finish first. Daisuke will have some mistakes too. Joubert will go for a quadruple jump or even two and he will make many mistakes in the free skate. Jeremy will probably have some significant mistakes too. Johnny will need the other skaters' mistakes to have a podium finish.

Women:
1. Yuna Kim
2. Akiko Suzuki
3. Miki Ando

Yuna will have a great long programme with great triple flip. People at this board will go bonkers :-) when they see her setting new world records. If she makes any mistakes, they will be minor ones. But I have a feeling that it will be her first completely clean long programme ina long time. Akiko will have great two programmes and finish above Miki who will make some mistakes, but not major ones. Alena will be great as always, but her sloppiness will prevent her from podium finish (she will more than make up for it winning gold at the Europeans in January). Ashley and Joannie will both make mistakes in their long programmes.

I do not know about the pairs, but I want Yuko and Alexander to finish on the podium (and be gold medalists at the Europeans and finish on the podium at the Olympics).

Ladies:
1. Ando (I have a feeling Yu Na's still not going to be in tip top shape at the final; so I'm going for Miki to win this though she hasn't been near perfect so far this season)
2. Kim (because even with mistakes, her scoring potential is still huge)
3. Wagner (I'm a believer )

Question that I didn't know where else to put; what's the starting order of the GPF determined by? World ranking? Or ranking in the qualification for the event?

It's in order of qualification. So for instance in the men's, Johnny will go first and Nobu will be last. And even more strangely, S/S will be in the first group in the pairs, because they qualified as the fourth team.

I refuse to make a guess as to the podiums, other than to state that it's extremely likely that V/M will win unless they make serious mistakes. Their FD is better than any of the other qualifiers.

ETA: I wrote that B/A would withdraw and didn't know that they'd already done so. Wow, I have psychic powers! This was a mean reaction to it, but really funny.

Ladies
1. Kim
2. Ando (may have had more time to practice than Rochette)
3. Rochette (may need a break after the recent comp; could be off the podium if she is really, really tired)

Akiko
Although any Japanese highest podium finisher would lock one spot of the JPN Olympic team, Akiko's chances for getting this spot may be very slim. Judging by the way her PCS was underscored at SC, I think that she needs at least one skater to have a serious meltdown to get on the podium. Plus, she needs to go above Miki. Unless Miki has a serious meltdown, I feel that her chances of making the Olympics team at this comp is very small.

Therefore, as a result, she would have less pressures here. Then I feel that Akiko actually may do well here and place the fourth, assuming that Kim, Miki, and Rochette would skate okay.

In contrast, perhaps she would be under a lot of pressures at Nationals and may not do very well there.

Wagner may do and score well unless she is too excited and happy with GPF.

ETA: I wrote that B/A would withdraw and didn't know that they'd already done so. Wow, I have psychic powers! This was a mean reaction to it, but really funny.

Me too, I posted earlier (on #18) that I predicted that they'd withdraw. I guess they have done that as their routine, we caught their pattern .I was just waiting to see what would be her excuse. When they know that they would not win, paticularly to the younger teams like V/M or D/W, they have no reason to go. With this new system, I don't know this tactic will work. V/M and D/W have much more difficult programs. They have higher technical skills, not sure if she can upgrade her skills in short few months.

But it could happen ... man, this GPF really shows you what the U.S. women are up against at the Olympics. Still, Suzuki and Leonova are not THAT great. They're not necessarily better than Wagner at her best. Really anything could happen here. ... the only truly shocking thing would be for Kim to be off the podium.